A wide variety of electronic devices are available for consumers today. Many of these devices have integrated circuits that are powered by regulated low voltage DC power sources. These low voltage power sources are often generated by dedicated power regulator circuits that use a higher voltage input from a battery or another power source. In some applications, the dedicated power regulator circuit can be one of the largest power dissipating components of the electronic device and can sometimes consume more space than the integrated circuit that it powers.
As electronic devices become more sophisticated and more compact, the size, the performance and the efficiency of the dedicated power regulator circuits needs to be improved. Increased switching frequency of the power regulator circuit has been one of the primary design advances to address these competing requirements. Increased switching frequency reduces the size and typically the cost of the large passive components (e.g., capacitors and inductors) while also enabling the power regulator to respond to faster transient requirements. The difficulty with increased switching frequency is typically the increased switching losses associated with the increased number of switching cycles (i.e., decreased efficiency). New methods of reducing the size and improving the efficiency of power regulator circuits are needed to meet the needs of future electronic devices.
Another challenge in operating at increased switching frequencies, is the circuitry doing the control most operating at high speeds. Operating traditional power control circuitry can sometimes be impossible, and when possible may take extra current to achieve the speeds required and thus effect the efficiency of the regulator.